DAILY ENCOURAGEMENT TUESDAY - TRANSFORMERS. Part 2.

Sow a thought, reap an act; sow an act, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny. - Traditional.

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. - Phil 1:6.

When the wife of missionary Adoniram Judson told him that a newspaper article likened him to some of the apostles, Judson replied, "I do not want to be like a Paul...or any mere man. I want to be like Christ...I want to follow Him only, copy His teachings, drink in His Spirit, and place my feet in His footprints...Oh, to be more like Christ!" - Source Unknown.

We are going through a period of change we call life, that is preparing us for our role in eternity with Him. Now, we are going to find out how this is happening to us, and it will explain the "whys" of many things we go through. There are four elements involved in our transformation; THE NEED, THE SEED, THE WEED and THE APPEAL. This week we will look at each element separately, yesterday we looked at THE NEED, and today we continue with…

THE SEED
When we accept Jesus Christ into our lives, He cleanses us from all sin and establishes the "seed" (The God nature) in us. There are some things we need to know about this seed of God in us… Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. - 2Cor 5:17. Those of us that are born again take on new principles, the old one’s are dead, and the new ones have started!

London businessman Lindsay Clegg told the story of a warehouse property he was selling. The building had been empty for months and needed repairs. Vandals had damaged the doors, smashed the windows, and strewn trash around the interior.

As he showed a prospective buyer the property, Clegg took pains to say that he would replace the broken windows, bring in a crew to correct any structural damage, and clean out the garbage.

"Forget about the repairs," the buyer said. "When I buy this place, I'm going to build something completely different. I don't want the building; I want the site."

Compared with the renovation God has in mind, our efforts to improve our own lives are as trivial as sweeping a warehouse slated for the wrecking ball. When we become God's, the old life is over (2 Cor. 5:17). He makes all things new. All he wants is the site and the permission to build. - Ian L. Wilson.

This "seed" takes time to grow. Some People think that when a person is born again that IMMEDIATELY they start acting and thinking like God. The seed of God's nature needs time to take root and infiltrate the whole being of the person… since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; - 1Pet 1:23.

We are born again by the power of God, not by any effort or power on our part, going to Church doesn’t make us born again, neither do our parents pass it on to us, it is not through status or position, but only by the eternal seed of God, by repenting of our sins and accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour, and obeying his commands! No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. - 1John 3:9.

This "seed" needs nurtured. If the ground around the seed is fertile, it will grow. Our lives need to be watered by God's Word and the Son light of Worship. As we read and put into practice the word of God, then we begin to nurture the seed in fertile soil, and as we worship we are aware of the awesome and worthy God that we serve!

There are so many stony ground hearers who receive the Word with joy that I have determined to suspend my judgment till I know the tree by its fruits ...

Do you think any farmer would have a crop of corn next year unless he plowed now? You may as well expect a crop of corn on unplowed ground as a crop of grace until the soul is convinced of its being undone without a Savior. That is the reason we have so many mushroom converts, so many persons that are always happy! happy! happy! and never were miserable. Why? Because their stony ground is not plowed up; they have not got a conviction of the law . . . they fall away . . .

That makes me so cautious now, which I was not thirty years ago, of dubbing converts too soon. Now I wait a little, and see if people bring forth fruit; for there are so many blossoms which March winds blow away that I cannot believe they are converts till I see fruit brought forth. - George Whitefield.

This "seed" needs room to grow. God must be first in our lives at all times, and if this God nature is going to affect us at all, it must be allowed to affect us in all! God is not just a part of our lives, He is our life. This seed must permeate every area of our lives and in so doing; we are transformed into the image of Jesus Christ.

Loving Father, I ask by the power of the Holy Spirit, that you would change me. Transform me into the character of your dear son Jesus, that I may be more like Him, in His wonderful name I pray! Amen!

GBYAY